The works of photographer Taryn Simon (1975) can be found in the collections of MoMa (New York), the Pompidou Center (Paris), the Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). Simon is internationally represented by the art dealer and owner of the Gagosian Galleries, Larry Gagosian.

Simon's four series of photographs – The Innocents (2002), Nonfiction (2003–2005), An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007) and Contraband (2010) – have come to the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow.

The artist has managed to open the doors of organizations that aren't exactly famous for their openness, such as the Church of Scientology. Simon gained recognition in 2007 with her photo book, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar. The photographs surprised in the way that they revealed a cross-section of the world's taboos through the medium of aesthetic documentary. Simon was allowed into places where most people are barred access, from nuclear waste storage facilities in Washington State to locked-away art collections kept by the CIA.